THE HAND THAT ROCKS THE CRADLE. Directed by Curtis Hanson; written by Amanda Silver; produced by David Madden. Starring Annabella Sciorra, Rebecca DeMornay and Ernie Hudson. Rated R.
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It's not many thrillers that would have you humming Gilbert and Sullivan as you leave the theater. That's just one of the nice little touches that make this movie sparkle, in spite of an entirely predictable plot.
Knowing what will happen isn't always a bad thing, anyway; and it's certainly different from knowing how it will happen. And with its original, well-acted and skillfully put-together "how," it's not surprising that The Hand that Rocks the Cradle has been topping the box office charts.
Claire Bartel's (Sciorra) perfect world starts to crumble soon after she hires a nanny to help care for her 6-year old and new baby. Peyton, (DeMornay) the nanny, seems too good to be true: bright, loving, capable. And she is. Blaming Claire for her husband's suicide and her subsequent miscarriage, she's determined on revenge.
Both actresses turn in superb performances. DeMornay's perfectly charming exterior gives way to intense flashes of malice when Claire isn't looking. She makes a truly chilling, but not completely unsympathetic, villain.
Sciorra has perhaps the more difficult role, but handles it equally well. She radiates well-being, decency and intelligence at the beginning. Then she gives an excellent portrayal of Claire's gradual slide toward self-doubt, depression and practically collapse, after Peyton starts to work.
Hudson is also outstanding as Solomon, a mentally disabled handyman who is befriended by Claire and her family, and who suspects from the start that Peyton isn't the angel she appears to be. His frustration is agonizing as he realizes that she means to hurt the family he loves, but that no one would believe him if he tried to warn them.
For a movie about such violent emotions as Peyton contends with, The Hand that Rocks the Cradle shows little actual mayhem. But it gets a lot of mileage out of those few scenes.
And the Gilbert & Sullivan? Well, the Bartels are fans, you see, and there's a lot of this music playing in the background throughout the movie. It even figures in the exciting climax, which took some pretty creative writing. But I think you'll approve of this touch, and the rest of the movie as well.
February 12, 1992